As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, especially with the use of wireless technologies for Machine to Machine (M2M) communication, there exists a need for further improvements in wireless technologies such as, but not limited to, Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) technologies. Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 11 is part of a wireless industry effort to provide these further improvements.
In current and previous releases of 3GPP LTE, mobile devices may be classified as being configured for low access priority. Devices configured for low access priority operate with reduced priority when accessing a wireless network relative to other devices with a higher access priority. During periods of congestion, a network may reject or restrict requests for network access from low access priority devices while still allowing access to normal and high priority requests. Devices configured for low access priority operate under low access priority unless special normal or high priority access is granted. For example, special priority access may be granted to low access priority devices for emergency calls or Mobile Priority Service (MPS).
It may be desirable for some low access priority devices to be able to operate in a normal access priority mode in certain additional situations. For example, a device that typically operates with low access priority may have an application or event that needs to be reported to an application server using normal access priority mode. For example an application on the device that sends hourly or daily usage reports can send them using low access priority, and would use normal access priority to send high priority information such as information that the unit (e.g., utility box or vending machine) is being tampered or the resource is getting low (e.g., candy or soda). In order to allow normal access priority, these low access priority devices need to be configured for dual access priority capability.
Among other enhancements, it has been proposed that 3GPP Rel 11 provide dual access priority capability for devices and networks. However, there is concern that low access priority devices may abuse dual access priority capability.